There were several SIAA schools that did not field a team due to World War I.

The 1917 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida during the 1917 college football season. The season was Alfred L. Buser's first of three as the head coach of the Florida Gators football team. The 1917 season was a disappointment. Buser's 1917 Florida Gators completed their football season with an SIAA conference record of 1–3[1] and an overall record of 2–4.[2]

Coach Buser was a former All-American lineman for the Wisconsin Badgers, and promised to bring a Midwestern power football style of play to revive the Gators after the winless 1916 season.[3] Captain "Rowdy Bill" Wilkinson was the team's only returning letterman.[4]

1.
Florida Gators football
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The Florida Gators football program represents the University of Florida in American college football. Florida competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and they play their home games in Steve Spurrier-Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on the universitys Gainesville campus. The Gators have won three championships and eight SEC titles in the 108-season history of Floridas varsity football program. The Florida football program has evolved from its beginnings and achieved notable successes. Florida has had a home field since the beginning of their football program. Since 1930, their home field has been Steve Spurrier-Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, the stadium was known as Florida Field until 1989 when its name was extended to honor alumnus and sports benefactor Ben Hill Griffin. During the 1990s, football coach Steve Spurrier called the stadium the Swamp, the quickly became popular. Since 1906 Florida has had twenty-five head coaches, including three who were inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame for their coaching success and their first head coach was Pee Wee Forsythe in 1906, the 2015 season was the first for their twenty-fifth head coach, Jim McElwain. During the programs early years, Florida was a member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association, in 1932 the University of Florida was a founding member of the Southeastern Conference, and it is currently one of fourteen member institutions. The Gators have competed in the SEC Eastern Division since the league began play in 1992. Florida plays an eight-game SEC schedule, with six games against the other Eastern Division teams, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, the schedule is filled out with an annual game against Louisiana State and a rotating SEC Western Division team. Until 2003, the Gators also played Auburn every season, Florida has also played in-state rival Florida State every year since 1958, usually facing off in the last game of the regular season. The two teams emergence as perennial football powers during the 1980s and 1990s helped build the Florida–Florida State rivalry into a game often has national-title implications. The remaining dates on Floridas regular schedule are filled by non-conference opponents which vary from year to year, previously known as the worlds largest outdoor cocktail party, it is most commonly called the Florida–Georgia game by Gator fans. The game is held at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Florida, the designated home team alternates, with ticket distribution split evenly between the schools. In the rivalrys early years, games rotated among locations in Savannah, Georgia, Tampa, Florida, Jacksonville and, occasionally, Gainesville, since 1933 the game has been played in Jacksonville, except for 1994 and 1995. Georgia had early success in the rivalry, winning the first six games, after the 2014 game Florida had won 21 out of the most-recent 27 games, and holds a 38–28–1 advantage in the series since 1950. The Bulldogs lead the overall, 49–43–2

2.
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association
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The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association was one of the first collegiate athletic conferences in the United States. Twenty-seven of the current Division I FBS football programs were members of this conference at some point, the SIAA was founded on December 21,1894, by Dr. William Dudley, a chemistry professor at Vanderbilt, at the Kimball House in Atlanta. Dudley was a member of the Vanderbilt Athletic Association, formed in 1886 with Dr. W. M. Baskerville as president, most students at Vanderbilt were members. The early sports played on the Vanderbilt campus were baseball, bicycling, Dudley was primarily responsible for the formation of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association. Sewanees opposition stopped it from occurring, the original members were Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Johns Hopkins, North Carolina, Sewanee, Vanderbilt, and Virginia. Virginia and North Carolina soon dropped before the inaugural 1895 season, the conference was originally formed for the development and purification of college athletics throughout the South. In 1903, a single-game football playoff occurred, but it seems to have been coordinated more so by the two competing schools than the conference itself, several other efforts over the years by individual schools to hold a conference title game fell through. Most SIAA titles claimed by schools in sports were actually more mythical in nature than officially sanctioned by the league. In 1915, a disagreement arose within the conference regarding the eligibility of freshman athletes, generally, the larger universities opposed the eligibility of freshman players, while the smaller schools favored it. As a result, some of the universities formed the Southern Intercollegiate Conference. At the conferences annual meeting on December 10,1920, the SIAA rejected proposals to ban freshman athletes, in protest, some schools that had voted in favor of the propositions immediately announced they would seek to form a new conference. In 1922, the Southern Conference underwent an expansion and added six more members, all at the expense of the SIAA, Florida, Louisiana State, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tulane, and Vanderbilt. With the departure of most of the colleges, the SIAA became a de facto small college conference in 1923. In the 1920s and 1930s, the SIAA increased its membership with the addition of additional small universities. The conference eventually disbanded in 1942 with the onset of American involvement in World War II, original charter members are denoted in boldface. Invited charter members are denoted with an asterisk, in the era in which the SIAA operated, teams tended to join in December, therefore, the first year of conference play in a given sport was often the following calendar year. Conference affiliations reflect those for the 2016–17 school year

3.
Alfred L. Buser
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Alfred Leo Buser, nicknamed Al Buser, was an American football player and coach. Buser played college football for the University of Wisconsin, and was recognized as an All-American and he later became the fourth head coach of the Florida Gators football team that represents the University of Florida. Buser was born in Madison, Wisconsin in 1888 and he attended Madison High School, where he was a stand-out high school football player and track & field athlete, and graduated in 1907. After graduating from school, Buser attended the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Buser played tackle for the Wisconsin Badgers football team from 1908 to 1911, as a senior, he was elected team captain for the 1911 football season. The 1911 Badgers finished 5–1–1—their sole loss was a 6–0 edging by the Chicago Maroons and he lettered three years in football, and once in track, as a shot-putter. Buser graduated from Wisconsin in 1912, and served as the director of athletics of the Wisconsin athletic association during 1913, Buser married the former Leila W. Mathews that same year. From 1917 to 1919, Buser was the coach of the Florida Gators football team that represented the University of Florida in Gainesville. Early expectations were high for Busers first Gators team in 1917, during his three seasons leading the Gators, Buser compiled a 7–8 record, including the one-game 1918 season shortened by the 1918 influenza pandemic and World War I. Buser was also the athletic director and the professor in charge of its physical education department. After an improved 5–3 season in 1919, Buser was replaced by William G. Kline, Buser was later the athletic director for Hamline University in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He was also a member of the Iron Cross Society, the universitys leadership honorary, Buser died in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1956. Carlson, Norm, University of Florida Football Vault, The History of the Florida Gators, Whitman Publishing, LLC, Atlanta, an Oral History of Floridas Pursuit of Gridiron Glory, Legends Publishing, LLC, St. Petersburg, Florida. McCarthy, Kevin M. Fightin Gators, A History of University of Florida Football, Arcadia Publishing, Mount Pleasant, mcEwen, Tom, The Gators, A Story of Florida Football, The Strode Publishers, Huntsville, Alabama. Proctor, Samuel, & Wright Langley, Gator History, A Pictorial History of the University of Florida, South Star Publishing Company, Gainesville, alfred Leo Al Buser at the College Football Data Warehouse

4.
1916 Florida Gators football team
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The 1916 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida in the sport of American football during the 1916 college football season. The season was C. J. McCoys third and last as the coach of the Florida Gators football team. Believing that he had the makings of a great Gators squad, Coach McCoy assembled the most ambitious, the team suffered the transfer of guard Ham Dowling, and tackle Everett Yon was called by the National Guard to defend the Mexican border. Due to a shortage of men, captain Rex Farrior, previously a center, Mercer scheduled a game with Florida, but several Mercer linemen were behind in their studies, and the game was cancelled. Primary source,2015 Florida Gators Football Media Guide, the season opened with a 21–0 loss to Georgia in Athens. The contest was scoreless in the first half, Georgia had to send in two stars who were resting with dislocated shoulders. Walter Neville scored the games first touchdown, the starting lineup was F. Henderson, Baker, Duvan, Robles, Golsby, Perry, Wilkinson, Fuller, Wilson, Hatcher, Farrier. Led by Cecil Creen, the Crimson Tide beat the Gators 16–0 in the twos first ever meeting, Creen twice tackled Floridas Ward from behind with a clear field ahead. It was the Gators first loss at University Field, the SIAA champion Tennessee Volunteers blanked the Gators in Tampa 24 to 0 in the two rivals first-ever meeting. Buck Hatchers punts were the feature of the contest, the starting lineup was F. Henderson, Baker, Perry, Robles, O. DeVane, Goldsby, Wood, Fuller, Sparkman, Wilson, Farrier. The Auburn Plainsmen beat the Gators 20–0, auburns fullback Scott was the star of the contest. The second touchdown was a 50-yard interception return by Godwin, the starting lineup was F. Henderson, Bankston, Rosenthal, Robles, Stockton, Goldsby, Wood, Fuller, Sparkman, Hatcher, Farrier. Captain Rex Farrior broke his leg in the two minutes of the final game, a 14–3 loss at Indiana, the only game in which the Gators scored when Paul Baker made a field goal. Up at the half 3–0, Florida lineman Orryl Robles was ejected, the starting lineup was F. Henderson, Baker, Rosenthal, Robles, Stockton, Goldsby, Wood, Fuller, Sparkman, Hatcher, Farrier. C. J. McCoy finished his tenure as the Gators coach with an overall record of 9–10. Head coach, Charles J. McCoy Manager, W. D. Payne McEwen, the Gators, A Story of Florida Football

5.
1917 Georgia Tech Golden Tornado football team
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The 1917 Georgia Tech Golden Tornado football team represented the Georgia Institute of Technology in American football during the 1917 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association football season. The Golden Tornado, coached by John Heisman in his 14th year as coach, compiled a 9–0 record. Heisman considered the 1917 team his best, and for years it was considered the greatest football team the South had ever produced. The backfield of Albert Hill, Everett Strupper, Joe Guyon, and Judy Harlan led the Golden Tornado, and all four rushed for more than 100 yards in a 48–0 victory over Tulane. During the regular season Georgia Tech defeated strong opponents by large margins, Techs 83–0 victory over Vanderbilt is the worst loss in Vanderbilt history, and its 63–0 defeat of Washington & Lee was the worst loss in W&L history at the time. Tech finished the season by defeating Auburn 68–7, clinching the conference title, Davidson and Auburn were the only teams to score points against Georgia Tech. Because of the American entry into World War I in April, however, Georgia Tech had an increasing enrollment and bright prospects for its football team after its undefeated 1916 season. Losses from the previous seasons team included guard Bob Lang and fullback Tommy Spence, in 1917 football used a one-platoon system, in which players played both offense and defense. Fifteen of the 21 players on the 1917 roster were from the state of Georgia, the teams captain was tackle Walker Big Six Carpenter. Its renowned backfield consisted of quarterback Al Hill, halfback Everett Strupper, halfback Joe Guyon, Coach John Heismans swift backfield used the pre-snap movement of his jump shift offense, and Al Hill led the team in carries. Ev Strupper, arguably the best of the four, was deaf, because of his deafness. When Strupe tried out for the team, he noticed that the quarterback shouted the signals every time he was to carry the ball, realizing that the loud signals would be a tip-off to the opposition, Strupper told Heisman, Coach, those loud signals are absolutely unnecessary. You see when sickness in my kid days brought on this deafness my folks gave me the best instructors obtainable to teach me lip-reading, Heisman recalled how Strupper overcame his deafness, He couldnt hear anything but a regular shout. But he could read your lips like a flash, no lad that ever stepped on a football field had keener eyes than Everett had. The enemy found this out the minute he began looking for openings through which to run the ball. Joe Guyon, the teams best passer, was a Chippewa Indian who was born on the White Earth Indian Reservation, his brother, Guyon had played for Pop Warner at Carlisle, and had to sit out the 1916 season in accordance with conference transfer rules. He ran through opponents, in contrast to Struppers dodging style, Judy Harlan said about Guyon, Once in a while the Indian would come out in Joe, such as the nights Heisman gave us a white football and had us working out under the lights. Thats when Guyon would give out the blood curdling war whoops, the Golden Tornado opened its season on September 29 with a doubleheader in three inches of mud

6.
1917 Auburn Tigers football team
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The 1917 Auburn Tigers football team represented Auburn University in the 1917 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association football season. It was the Tigers 26th season and they competed as a member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association, the team was led by head coach Mike Donahue, in his 13th year, and played their home games at Drake Field in Auburn, Alabama. They finished with a record of six wins, two losses and one tie, led by Walter Camp All-America Honorable Mention Moon Ducote, Auburn lost its two games to Davidson and Georgia Tech, widely regarded as the two best teams in the south. Georgia Tech was the souths first national champion, Auburn held undefeated Big Ten champion Ohio State to a scoreless tie. Source,1917 Auburn football schedule The season opened with a 53–0 defeat of Howard, in the second week of play, the Tigers beat Camp Sheridan 13–0. Auburn beat Clemson on Riggs Field 7–0, in a close game, Ducote starred for Auburn and Stumpy Banks starred for Clemson. Auburns starting lineup was Ducote, Caton, Samford, Rogers, Warren, Bonner, Styles, Robinson, Donahue, Creel, Auburn won a tough game with the Mississippi Aggies, winning 13–6. The Aggies score when their tackle, Horton, picked up a fumble, Auburns starting lineup was Styles, Caton, Sizemore, Rogers, Warren, Bonner, Gibson, Ducote, Donahue, Trapp, Revington. Auburns biggest win was 68–0 over Florida, Auburns starting lineup was Creel, Styles, Sizemore, Caton, Warren, Bonner, Gibson, Ducote, Donahue, Trapp, Revington. Davidson, led by Buck Flowers, beat the Tigers 21–7 in an upset and he also prevented Auburn from scoring with a tackle at the goal line. Auburns starting lineup was Esslinger, Styles, Sizemore, Caton, Warren, Bonner, Gibson, Robinson, Donahue, Ducote, the Tigers defeated Dan McGugins Vanderbilt Commodores 31–7. Auburns starting lineup was Gibson, Styles, Sizemore, Caton, Warren, Bonner, Creel, Robinson, Donahue, Ducote, Auburn held undefeated Big Ten champion Ohio State to a scoreless tie less than a week before the Tech game. Ohio State, led by Chic Harley, had been favored 4 or 5 to 1, coach John Heisman and his players were at the game, rooting for the Tigers. Auburn stopped Ohio State inside its 10-yard line five times, Auburns starting lineup was Creel, Styles, Sizemore, Caton, Warren, Bonner, Gibson, Robinson, Donahue, Ducote, Revington. In the seasons final game, Georgia Tech, for years considered the Souths greatest, Tech piled up 472 yards on the ground in 84 rushes and 145 yards in the air. Joe Guyon scored four touchdowns, and Everett Strupper had a 65-yard touchdown run, according to the Atlanta Journal, It was not the length of the run that featured it was the brilliance of it. Without checking his speed Everett knifed the two men completely, running between them and dashing on to a touchdown, in the second quarter, Moon Ducote broke through the line toward the goal with blocking by Pete Bonner and William Donahue. After Guyon dove at Ducote and missed, Guyon gave chase, for Auburns only score Ducote circled around end for 17 yards and lateraled to Donahue, who ran down the sideline for a six-yard touchdown

7.
1917 Clemson Tigers football team
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The 1917 Clemson Tigers football team represented the Clemson Tigers of Clemson Agricultural College during the 1917 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association football season. Under first year head coach Edward Donahue, the posted a 6–2 record. F. L. Witsel was the captain, stumpy Banks scored five touchdowns against Furman for a school record. John Heisman ranked Clemson fourth in the south, or third in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association

8.
1917 Vanderbilt Commodores football team
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The 1917 Vanderbilt Commodores football team represented Vanderbilt University in the 1917 college football season. The 1917 season was Dan McGugins 14th year as head coach, the souths first national champion Georgia Tech gave Vanderbilt its biggest loss in school history,83 to 0. Vandy captain Alf Adams praised the Tech team, Techs magnificent machine won easily over Vanderbilt and it was simply the matter of a splendid eleven winning over an unseasoned, inexperienced team. Tech played hard, clean football, and we were surprised to meet such a fair, aggressive team. I think that Vanderbilt could have broken that Tech shift if we had had last years eleven, being outweighed, Vanderbilt could not check the heavy forwards, or open up the line

9.
Wofford Terriers football
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The team competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision and are members of the Southern Conference. Woffords first football team was fielded in 1889, the team plays its home games at the 13,000 seat Gibbs Stadium in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The Terriers are coached by Mike Ayers, who is entering his 28th season with the team in 2015, Wofford moved from Division 2 to join the Division 1-AA Southern Conference in the 96-97 season. Since then, Wofford has won 4 Southern Conference Championships, Wofford is typically one of the strongest teams in the Southern Conference every year. Woffords best finish since moving from Division 2 was a trip to the National Semi-finals at Delaware in 2003, brenton Bersin - wide receiver for the Carolina Panthers Wofford has gone to the FCS Playoffs a total of 6 times. In 2003, Wofford appeared in the FCS Playoffs for the first time in school history, in the semi-finals, they lost to the would-be FCS Champions Delaware, and finished the season ranked #3 in the nation. The Terriers moved on to the quarterfinals in 2007 before losing to Richmond and they lost in the opening round to James Madison in 2008. In 2010, they advanced to the National Quarterfinals to face Southern Conference rival Georgia Southern and they were defeated in that game 20-23. Georgia Southern Fans taunted Wofford players, throwing bottles and trash at them. In 2011, they made it to the playoffs, losing to Northern Iowa 21-28 in the second round, in 2012, Wofford dominated visiting New Hampshire, to move on to the Quarterfinals to face would-be champions North Dakota St. Although they had chances to win, they fell 14-7. Woffords Football team has won 4 Southern Conference Championships, the first came in 2003, when Wofford finished 12-2, with a trip to face Delaware in the Division 1-AA Playoff Semifinals. The next championship came in 2007, sharing the championship with Appalachian State, Wofford would also win Conference titles in 2010 and 2012. The Terriers have appeared in the I-AA/FCS playoffs five times with an record of 6–5. The Terriers have appeared in the Division II playoffs two times with an record of 0–2

10.
Howard Bulldogs football
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The team competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision and are members of the Southern Conference. Samfords first football team was fielded in 1902, the team plays its home games at the 6,700 seat Seibert Stadium in Homewood, Alabama. The Bulldogs are coached by Chris Hatcher, bobby Bowden James Bradberry Cortland Finnegan Jimbo Fisher Jaquiski Tartt Fabian Truss Corey White Nick Williams Michael Pierce 2017 at Georgia Official website

11.
Mississippi College Choctaws football
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The Mississippi College Choctaws football team represents Mississippi College. The schools teams are known as the Choctaws and its major rival is Millsaps College in nearby Jackson. After a more than 40-year hiatus, the two teams meeting on the football field again in 2000. The rivalry is dubbed the Backyard Brawl, the first year of the team was in 1907. The 1921 team was led by Hall of Famer Edwin Goat Hale, official record against all current GSC opponents

12.
University of Florida
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The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university on a 2, 000-acre campus in Gainesville, Florida. It is a member of the State University System of Florida and traces its origins to 1853. The University is classified as a Research University with Very High Research by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, for 2017, U. S. News & World Report ranked Florida as the fourteenth best public university in the United States. The university is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and it is the third largest Florida university by student population, and is the eighth largest single-campus university in the United States with 49,913 students enrolled for the fall 2012 semester. The University of Florida is home to sixteen colleges and more than 150 research centers. The University of Florida traces its origins to 1853, when the East Florida Seminary, on January 6,1853, Governor Thomas Brown signed a bill that provided public support for higher education in Florida. Gilbert Kingsbury was the first person to take advantage of the legislation, and established the East Florida Seminary, the East Florida Seminary was Floridas first state-supported institution of higher learning. James Henry Roper, an educator from North Carolina and a senator from Alachua County, had opened a school in Gainesville. In 1866, Roper offered his land and school to the State of Florida in exchange for the relocation of the East Florida Seminary to Gainesville, the second major precursor to the University of Florida was the Florida Agricultural College, established at Lake City by Jordan Probst in 1884. Florida Agricultural College became the states first land-grant college under the Morrill Act, in 1905, the Florida Legislature passed the Buckman Act, which consolidated the states publicly supported higher education institutions. The member of the legislature who wrote the act, Henry Holland Buckman, later became the namesake of Buckman Hall, the Buckman Act organized the State University System of Florida and created the Florida Board of Control to govern the system. The City of Gainesville, led by its Mayor William Reuben Thomas, on July 6,1905, the Board of Control selected Gainesville for the new university campus. Andrew Sledd, president of the pre-existing University of Florida at Lake City, was selected to be the first president of the new University of the State of Florida, architect William A. Edwards designed the first official campus buildings in the Collegiate Gothic style. Classes began on the new Gainesville campus on September 26,1906, in 1909, the schools name was simplified from the University of the State of Florida to the University of Florida. The alligator was incidentally chosen as the mascot in 1911, after a local vendor ordered. Murphree is the only University of Florida president honored with a statue on the campus, before this, only the summer semester was coeducational, to accommodate women teachers who wanted to further their education during the summer break. Lassie Goodbread-Black from Lake City became the first woman to enroll at the University of Florida, john J. Tigert became the third university president in 1928. By the end of the 1946–47 school year,954 men were enrolled at the Tallahassee Branch, the following semester, the Florida Legislature returned the Florida State College for Women to coeducational status and renamed it Florida State University

13.
1917 college football season
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The 1917 NCAA football season had no clear-cut champion, with the Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book listing Georgia Tech as national champions, the Souths first. Pittsburgh, Ohio State, Texas A&M, Williams, and Washington State were also undefeated, the Golden Tornado was invited to play a 4–3 Oregon team in the Rose Bowl, but by then many players had joined the war effort. In the second week of play, Georgia Tech beat Penn 41–0, bernie McCarty called it Struppers finest hour, coming through against powerful Penn in the contest that shocked the East. By comparison, Pitt defeated Penn 14–6, one conference changed its name for the 1917 season, Michigan rejoined the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives after a nine-year absence. As such, the league was first unofficially coined the Big Ten, september 29 In a doubleheader, Georgia Tech beat Furman and then Wake Forest, 25–0 and 33–0 respectively. October 6 Georgia Tech beat Penn at home 41 to 0, october 13 Georgia Tech beat Davidson 32–10, its closest game all season. October 20 Georgia Tech beat Washington & Lee 63–0, october 27 Undefeated Pittsburgh beat Penn on the road 14 to 6. November 3 Georgia Tech gave Vanderbilt its worst ever beating, 83–0, november 10 A freshman Buck Flowers at Davidson upset Auburn 21–7. All of Georgia Techs backs rushed for 100 yards in a 48–0 defeat of Tulane, november 17 Georgia Tech beat Carlisle 98–0. November 24 Auburn fought undefeated Ohio State to a scoreless tie, coach Heisman of Georgia Tech and his players were at the game, rooting for the Tigers. November 29 Georgia Tech beat Auburn 68 to 7, the Mare Island Marines would defeat Camp Lewis 19-7 in the 1918 Rose Bowl

14.
Wisconsin Badgers football
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The Wisconsin Badgers football team is the intercollegiate football team of University of Wisconsin–Madison. The Badgers have competed in the Big Ten Conference since its formation in 1896 and they play their home games at Camp Randall Stadium, the fourth-oldest stadium in college football. Wisconsin has had two Heisman Trophy winners, Alan Ameche and Ron Dayne, and have had nine former players inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, as of January 2,2017, the Badgers have an all-time record of 685–489–53. The teams nickname originates in the history of Wisconsin. In the 1820s and 1830s, prospectors came to the looking for minerals. Without shelter in the winter, the miners had to live like badgers in tunnels burrowed into hillsides, the first Badger football team took the field in 1889, losing the only two games it played that season. In 1890, Wisconsin earned its first victory with a 106–0 drubbing of Whitewater Normal School, however, the very next week the Badgers suffered what remains their most lopsided defeat, a humiliating 63–0 loss at the hands of the University of Minnesota. Since then, the Badgers and Gophers have met 122 times, upon the formation of the Big Ten conference in 1896, Wisconsin became the first-ever conference champion with a 7–1–1 record. Over the next ten years, the Badgers won or shared the title three more times, and recorded their first undefeated season, going 9–0–0. With the exception of their undefeated season in 1912, in which they won their fifth Big Ten title. The 1912 season would be their last conference title until 1952, the team posted mostly winning seasons over the next several seasons however. 1942 was an important year for Wisconsin football, on October 24, the #6 ranked Badgers defeated the #1 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes at Camp Randall, catapulting Wisconsin to the #2 spot in the AP poll. Unfortunately for the Badgers, their championship hopes were dashed in a 6–0 defeat by the Iowa Hawkeyes the following week. Nevertheless, Wisconsin won the remainder of its games, finishing the season 8–1–1 and #3 in the AP, afterwards, the Badgers struggled to regain their momentum, with their efforts hampered by many of their star players leaving as a result of World War II. In the late 1940s, fans began insisting that head coach Harry Stuhldreher resign, many times chanting Goodbye Harry, especially during 1948, Stuhldreher stepped down as head coach, while keeping his duties as athletic director. Stuhldreher then named Ivy Williamson as head coach The Badgers experienced great success during the 1950s under Williamson, in one stretch, from 1950-1954, the Badgers went 26-8-3. In 1952, the received its first #1 ranking by the Associated Press. That season, the Badgers again claimed the Big Ten title, there they were defeated 7–0 by the Southern California, and would finish the season ranked #11 in the AP

15.
South Carolina Gamecocks football
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The South Carolina Gamecocks football program represents the University of South Carolina in the sport of American football. The Gamecocks compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, will Muschamp currently serves as the teams head coach. They play their games at Williams-Brice Stadium. Currently, it is the 20th largest stadium in college football, USCs SEC tenure has been highlighted by an SEC East title in 2010, Final Top-25 rankings in 2000,2001,2010,2011,2012 and 2013, and four wins over Top-5 SEC opponents. From 1953 through 1970, the Gamecocks played in the Atlantic Coast Conference, winning the 1969 ACC championship and finishing No.15 in the 1958 final AP poll. From 1971 through 1991, they competed as a independent, producing 1980 Heisman Trophy winner George Rogers, six bowl appearances. The Gamecocks have produced a National Coach of the Year in Joe Morrison and they also have four members of the College Football Hall of Fame in former players George Rogers and Sterling Sharpe, and former coaches Lou Holtz and Steve Spurrier. Carolina fielded its first football team on Christmas Eve, in Charleston, South Carolina, at that time the football team was not sanctioned by the University. They provided their own uniforms and paid their own train fare in order to participate in the game and they were nicknamed the College Boys by The News and Courier and their supporters wore garnet and black. USC won its first game in its season, on November 2,1895 against Columbia AA. The squad designated their first head coach, W. H. Dixie Whaley, the 1896 season also saw the inaugural game against arch-rival Clemson on November 12, which Carolina won 12–6. From 1902 to 1903, coach Bob Williams led the Gamecocks to a 14–3 record, in 1902, South Carolina beat Clemson, coached by John Heisman, for the first time since 1896, the first year of the rivalry. After the game on Thursday, the Clemson guys frankly told the Carolina students that if you bring this poster, and naturally, of course, the Carolina students brought the poster to the parade. If you give someone an ultimatum and they’re your rival, they’re going to do exactly what you told them not to do, as expected, another brawl broke out before both sides agreed to mutually burn the poster in an effort to defuse tensions. The immediate aftermath resulted in the stoppage of the rivalry until 1909,1903 also heralded the programs first 8-win season with an overall record of 8–2. Future senator and former player for South Carolina and UVA. 1904s captain Gene Oliver played against Georgia with a broken jaw, within months The Board of Trustees reversed their decision after hearing pleas, and receiving petitions, from students and alumni alike. Play was allowed to resume in 1907, a hastily assembled football team, coached by Board of Trustees member Douglas McKay, competed in an abbreviated season that same year, and the squad won all three games

16.
Gainesville, Florida
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Gainesville is the county seat and largest city in Alachua County, Florida, United States, and the principal city of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population of Gainesville in the 2013 US Census estimates was 127,488, Gainesville is the largest city in the region of North Central Florida. It is also a component of the Gainesville-Lake City Combined Statistical Area, Gainesville is home to the University of Florida, the nations ninth-largest university campus by enrollment, as well as to Santa Fe College. The Gainesville MSA was ranked as the No.1 place to live in North America in the 2007 edition of Cities Ranked and Rated, also in 2007, Gainesville was ranked as one of the best places to live and play in the United States by National Geographic Adventure. About 12,000 years ago Paleo-Indians lived in Florida, although it is not known for certain whether any permanent settlements from that period were in the present city limits of Gainesville, archaeological evidence of human presence exists. Eventually more complex social organization and agricultural practices emerged into what archaeologists classify as the Deptford culture, a Deptford culture campsite has been excavated beneath the subsequent Alachua culture Law School Burial Mound on the grounds of the University of Florida. The UF campus burial mound was built about 1000 A. D. by Alachua culture inhabitants who lived along the shore of Lake Alice. In the recorded period, the region was home to the Potano, the remaining Timucua were converted to Roman Catholicism and organized into missions overseen by Franciscan priests. The Mission San Francisco de Potano, the first doctrina in Florida west of the St. Johns River, was founded in 1606 at the edge of present-day San Felasco Hammock Preserve State Park. Chief Potanos town was relocated in the period to the vicinity of the Devils Millhopper. Spanish colonists began cattle ranching in the Paynes Prairie area using Timucua labor, between 1763 and 1784 what is now Gainesville fell within the jurisdiction of the colony of British East Florida. Gainesville was founded to place the Alachua County seat on the route of the Florida Railroad Companys line stretching from Cedar Key to Fernandina Beach. County residents decided to move the county seat from Newnansville in 1853, a site on Black Oak Ridge where the railroad was expected to cross it was selected in 1854. It is generally accepted that the new settlement was named for General Edmund P. Gaines, the railroad was completed from Fernandina to Gainesville in 1859, passing six blocks south of the courthouse. Hogtown is the village of the adjacent Hogtown Creek, which flows 5.7 miles through Gainesville. Hogtown continued to exist until after Gainesville was founded, as evidenced on a map showing both towns, which was published in 1864 based on surveys from 1855, two residents of Hogtown played a prominent role in establishing Gainesville. William Lewis, who owned a plantation in Hogtown, delivered 20 votes pledged to him to create a new town on the route of the railroad. Tillman Ingram, who owned a plantation and a sawmill in Hogtown

17.
Drake Field (stadium)
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Drake Field was an American football, baseball, and track stadium on the campus of Auburn University, in Auburn, Alabama, United States. From 1911 to 1939, Drake field was the field of the Auburn University Tigers football team. The stadium was home to the Auburn University Tigers baseball team from 1911 through 1949. It had a capacity of 7,550 in 1939, Drake Field was named for John Hodges Drake III, who served as the college physician from 1873 until 1926 and who donated the land for the field. The field was inaugurated on October 7,1911 with the football teams 29-0 win over Mercer. Two months later on the field, Auburn High School played the programs first football game, against Sidney Lanier High School, on November 25,1911. Auburn High School continued to play football at the stadium until moving to their on-campus stadium Ross Field in 1921, both the high school and the college football teams moved to adjacent Auburn Stadium, today Jordan–Hare Stadium, in 1939. The college baseball team continued playing at Drake Field until 1949, the field remained until the construction of the Haley Center in the late 1960s. Drake Field today sits on the site of the Auburn University student union

18.
Auburn, Alabama
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Auburn is a city in Lee County, Alabama, United States. It is the largest city in eastern Alabama with a 2015 population of 62,059 and it is a principal city of the Auburn-Opelika Metropolitan Area. Auburn is a town and is the home of Auburn University. It is Alabamas fastest-growing metropolitan area and the nineteenth fastest-growing metro area in the United States since 1990, U. S. News ranked Auburn among its top ten list of best places to live in the United States for the year 2009. The citys unofficial nickname is “The Loveliest Village On The Plains, ” taken from a line in the poem The Deserted Village by Oliver Goldsmith, inhabited in antiquity by the Creek, the land on which Auburn sits was opened to settlement in 1832 with the Treaty of Cusseta. The first settlers arrived in the winter of 1836 from Harris County and these settlers, led by Judge John J. Harper, intended to build a town that would be the religious and educational center for the area. Auburn was incorporated on February 2,1839, in what was then Macon County, by that time, Methodist and Baptist churches had been established, and a school had been built and had come into operation. In the mid-1840s, separate academies for boys and girls were established in addition to the primary school and this concentration of educational institutions led to a rapid influx of families from the planter class into Auburn in the 1840s and 1850s. By 1858, of the roughly 1,000 free residents of Auburn, in 1856, the state legislature chartered a Methodist college, the East Alabama Male College in Auburn. This college, now Auburn University, opened its doors in 1859, with the advent of the Civil War in 1861, Auburn quickly emptied. All of the closed, and most businesses shuttered. Auburn was the site of a hospital for Texan Confederate soldiers, after the Civil War, Auburn’s economy entered a prolonged depression that would last the remainder of the century. Public schools did not reopen until the mid-1870s, and most businesses remained closed, a series of fires in the 1860s and 1870s gutted the downtown area. Passage of the Hatch Act in 1887 allowed for expansion of research facilities on campus. In 1892, the became the first four-year college in Alabama to admit women. This, combined with increased interest in agriculture and engineering and new funding from business licenses. By 1910, Auburns population had returned to its antebellum level, SIAA Conference championships won by the Auburn college’s football team brought attention and support to Auburn, and helped fill the citys coffers. Fortunes were quickly reversed with the collapse of prices in the early 1920s

19.
Jacksonville, Florida
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Jacksonville is a seaport city and the seat of Duval County, Florida, United States. With an estimated 868,031 residents as of 2015, Jacksonville is the most populous city in both the state of Florida and the southeastern United States. It is estimated to be the 12th most populous city in the United States and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. The Jacksonville metropolitan area has a population of 1,603,497 and is the 34th largest in the United States and fourth largest in the state of Florida. The city is situated on the banks of the St. Johns River, in the First Coast region of North Florida, prior to European settlement, the Jacksonville area was inhabited by Native American people known as the Timucua. In 1564, the French established the colony of Fort Caroline at the mouth of the St. Johns River. In 1822, a year after the United States gained Florida from Spain, Jacksonville is the cultural, commercial and financial center of North Florida. A major military and civilian deep-water port, the citys riverine location supports two United States Navy bases and the Port of Jacksonville, Floridas third largest seaport. The two US Navy bases, Blount Island Command and the nearby Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Jacksonville is also home to several colleges and universities, including University of North Florida, Jacksonville University and Florida State College at Jacksonville. The area of the city of Jacksonville has been inhabited for thousands of years. In the 16th century, the beginning of the era, the region was inhabited by the Mocama. At the time of contact with Europeans, all Mocama villages in present-day Jacksonville were part of the powerful chiefdom known as the Saturiwa, centered around the mouth of the St. Johns River. One early map shows a village called Ossachite at the site of what is now downtown Jacksonville, French Huguenot explorer Jean Ribault charted the St. Johns River in 1562 calling it the River of May because he discovered it in May. Ribault erected a column near present-day Jacksonville claiming the newly discovered land for France. In 1564, René Goulaine de Laudonnière established the first European settlement, Fort Caroline, philip II of Spain ordered Pedro Menéndez de Avilés to protect the interest of Spain by attacking the French presence at Fort Caroline. On September 20,1565, a Spanish force from the nearby Spanish settlement of St. Augustine attacked Fort Caroline, the Spanish renamed the fort San Mateo, and following the ejection of the French, St. Augustines position as the most important settlement in Florida was solidified. The location of Fort Caroline is subject to debate but a reconstruction of the fort was established on the St. Johns River in 1964. Spain ceded Florida to the British in 1763 after the French and Indian War, the British introduced the cultivation of sugar cane, indigo and fruits as well the export of lumber

20.
Stoll Field/McLean Stadium
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Stoll Field/McLean Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. It was the home of the University of Kentucky Wildcats football team, the field has been in use since 1880, but the concrete stands were opened in October 1916, and closed following the 1972 season, and was replaced by Commonwealth Stadium. Memorial Coliseum is located across the street from the site, the stadium was a two-sided concrete structure, with bleachers in both endzones. It was named for Judge Richard C, the stadium was the home of the Wildcats during the Bear Bryant era, which included the teams first bowl appearance, and their first Southeastern Conference football championship. Bryants coaching tenure at the predominantly basketball-savvy school is regarded as the best era in UKs football history and it is the site of the first recorded football game played in the South. A historic marker was erected in 2008 and reads – Side 1 – STOLL FIELD and it was dedicated in 1916 at the Kentucky vs. Vanderbilt game and was named in honor of alumnus and long-term Board of Trustees member Judge Richard C. Stoll. The field was the setting of early games and an integral part of student life. Side 2 – MCLEAN STADIUM This field, which once pastured President Pattersons cows, was used for training during World War I. It was named for Price McLean, a student who was fatally injured in a football game in 1923. McLean Stadium was the site of Kentucky football games until they were moved to Commonwealth Stadium in 1973, on that first game in 1880 which Transylvania University won over Centre College 13¾–0. The two teams met in a cow pasture, belong to Hubert McGoodwin near Lexington, the present site of the University of Kentuckys Stoll Field, there were fifteen players on each team and a player once injured or removed for other reasons could not re-enter the game. At the end of much scuffling and butting of scholarly foreheads, the team members were older men, a good many of them having whiskers. And they wore extremely heavy shoes and heavily padded apparel, McLean Stadium was the site of the first football game of the newly formed SEC on September 30,1933, in which Kentucky defeated Sewanee 7–0. The final Kentucky game played at the stadium was on November 11,1972, the final overall games were the 1972 Class A and AA KHSAA State Championships, played on November 24. Trigg County defeated Pikeville 22−0 in the Class A final, while Tates Creek won the Class AA final over Ashland, the stadium was razed during the 1970s, the south end being replaced with the Singletary Center for the Arts. A field was installed in the end, perpendicular to the old end zone. It is still the practice field for the UK marching band, a short history of Stoll Field/McLean Stadium

21.
Lexington, Kentucky
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Lexington, consolidated with Fayette County, is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 61st largest in the United States. Known as the Horse Capital of the World, it is the heart of the states Bluegrass region, with a mayor-alderman form of government, it is one of two cities in Kentucky designated by the state as first-class, the other is the states largest city of Louisville. In the 2016 U. S. Census Estimate, the population was 318,449, anchoring a metropolitan area of 506,751 people. Lexington ranks tenth among US cities in college education rate, with 39. 5% of residents having at least a bachelors degree and this area of fertile soil and abundant wildlife was long occupied by varying tribes of Native Americans. European explorers began to trade with them but settlers did not come in force until the late 18th century, Lexington was founded by European Americans in June 1775, in what was then considered Fincastle County, Virginia,17 years before Kentucky became a state. A party of frontiersmen, led by William McConnell, camped on the Middle Fork of Elkhorn Creek at the site of the present-day McConnell Springs, upon hearing of the colonists victory in the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19,1775, they named their campsite Lexington. It was the first of what would be many American places to be named after the Massachusetts town, the risk of Indian attacks delayed permanent settlement for four years. In 1779, during the American Revolutionary War, Col. Robert Patterson and 25 companions came from Fort Harrod and they built cabins and a stockade, establishing a settlement known as Bryan Station. In 1780, Lexington was made the seat of Virginias newly organized Fayette County, colonists defended it against a British and allied Shawnee attack in 1782, during the last part of the American Revolutionary War. The town was chartered on May 6,1782, by an act of the Virginia General Assembly, the First African Baptist Church was founded c. 1790 by Peter Durrett, a Baptist preacher and slave held by Joseph Craig. Durrett helped guide The Travelling Church, a migration of several hundred pioneers led by the preacher Lewis Craig and Captain William Ellis from Orange County. It is the oldest black Baptist congregation in Kentucky and the third oldest in the United States, I would suppose it contains about five hundred dwelling houses, many of them elegant and three stories high. The country around Lexington for many miles in every direction, is equal in beauty and fertility to anything the imagination can paint and is already in a state of cultivation. Residents have fondly continued to refer to Lexington as The Athens of the West since Espys poem dedicated to the city, in the early 19th century, planter John Wesley Hunt became the first millionaire west of the Alleghenies. London Ferrill, second preacher of First African Baptist, was one of three clergy who stayed in the city to serve the suffering victims, additional cholera outbreaks occurred in 1848–49 and the early 1850s. Cholera was spread by using contaminated water supplies, but its transmission was not understood in those years. Often the wealthier people would flee town for outlying areas to try to avoid the spread of disease, planters held slaves for use as field hands, laborers, artisans, and domestic servants. In the city, slaves worked primarily as servants and artisans, although they also worked with merchants, shippers

22.
Mike Donahue
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Michael Joseph Iron Mike Donahue was an American football player, coach of football, basketball, baseball, tennis, track, soccer, and golf, and a college athletics administrator. He served as the football coach at Auburn University, at Louisiana State University. In 18 seasons coaching football at Auburn, Donahue amassed a record of 106–35–5 and had three squads go undefeated with four more suffering only one loss. His.743 career winning percentage is the second highest in Auburn history, surpassing notable coaches such as John Heisman and Ralph Shug Jordan. Donahue Drive in Auburn, Alabama, on which Jordan–Hare Stadium is located, Donahue also coached basketball, baseball, track, and soccer at Auburn and baseball and tennis at LSU. He was inducted as a coach into the College Football Hall of Fame as part of its class in 1951. Donahue was born in County Kerry, Ireland and attended Yale University, there he lettered in football, basketball, track and cross country. Donahue played as a quarterback on the football team, and was twice captain of the scrub team. Donahue stood just 54 tall, with red hair and blue eyes, upon graduating college, Donahue became the tenth head coach of the Auburn Tigers football team beginning in 1904, the same year Vanderbilt hired Dan McGugin. Former Auburn head coach Billy Watkins led the effort to acquire Donahue, contrasting with McGugin, Fuzzy Woodruff wrote that Donahue was a mouse-like little man with little to say, save when aroused, on which he was capable of utterances of great fire and fervor. His teams were led by his 7–2–2 defense and his coaching career saw immediate success, as his first team went undefeated at 5–0 including a defeat of rival Alabama which was the purpose for his hiring. Donahues Auburn teams won five Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association titles, in 1904,1910,1913,1914 and 1919, from 1913 into 1915, Auburn went 22 consecutive games without a loss. One source on the 1913 team reads Coach Donahue loved the fullback dive, donahues 1920 team averaged a then-school record 36.9 points per game. His last team was considered one of the best teams Auburn turned out in the first half of the 20th century. His.743 career winning percentage is the second highest in Auburn history, surpassing notable coaches including John Heisman, Ralph Shug Jordan, Pat Dye, Terry Bowden, and Tommy Tuberville. Donahue also served as director, basketball coach, baseball coach, track coach. Under Donahue, basketball practice was a sport, a former player once lamented. In 1912, he coached Auburns first soccer team, Donahue went on to become the seventeenth head football coach at LSU in 1923 and had a 23–19–3 record over five seasons before retiring from coaching after the 1927 season

23.
Kentucky Wildcats football
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The Kentucky Wildcats football program represents the University of Kentucky in the sport of American football. The Wildcats compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, until about 1913, the modern University of Kentucky was referred to as Kentucky State College and nearby Transylvania University was known as Kentucky University. In 1880, Kentucky University and Centre College played the first intercollegiate game in Kentucky. Kentucky State first fielded a team in 1881, playing three games against rival Kentucky University. The team was revived in 1891, both the inaugural 1881 squad and the revived 1891 squad have unknown coaches according to university records in winning two games and losing three. The 1891 teams colors were blue and light yellow, decided before the Centre–Kentucky game on December 19, a student asked What color blue. And varsity letterman Richard C. Stoll pulled off his necktie and this is still held as the origin of Kentuckys shade of blue. The next year light yellow was dropped and changed to white, the 1892 team was coached by A. M. Miller, and went 2–4–1. The greatest UK team of this era was the 1898 squad, to this day, the Immortals remain the only undefeated, untied, and unscored upon team in UK football history. The Immortals were coached by W. R. Bass and ended the year a perfect 7–0–0, head coach Jack Wright led the team to a 7–1 record in 1903, losing only to rival and southern champion Kentucky University. Fred Schacht posted a 15–4–1 record in two seasons but died unexpectedly after his second season, J. White Guyn also had success leading the Wildcats, posting a 17–7–1 record in his three years. Edwin Sweetland went 16–3 in three seasons but resigned due to poor health, Sweetland also served as Kentuckys first athletics director. The 1909 team upset the Illinois Fighting Illini, upon their welcome home, Philip Carbusier said that they had fought like wildcats, a nickname that stuck. John J. Tigert coached Kentucky for two seasons with each season having one loss, the 1916 team fought the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association co-champion Tennessee Volunteers to a scoreless tie. The years only a loss,45 to 0 to the Irby Curry-led Vanderbilt Commodores, was the dedication of Stoll Field, quarterbacks Curry and Kentuckys Doc Rodes were both selected All-Southern at years end. Vanderbilt coach Dan McGugin stated If you would give me Doc Rodes, Coach Harry Gamage had a 32–25–5 record during his seven seasons from 1927 to 1933. A. D. Kirwan, who would go on to be the president of the university, coached the Wildcats from 1938 to 1944, longtime athletics director Bernie Shively also served as Kentuckys head football coach for the 1945 season. Coach Paul Bear Bryant was Kentuckys head football coach for eight seasons, Bear Bryant came to Kentucky from Maryland

24.
Plant City, Florida
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Plant City is a city in Hillsborough County, Florida, in the United States, approximately midway between Brandon and Lakeland along Interstate 4. The population was 34,721 at the 2010 census, many people believe it was named for the flora grown at plant nurseries in its tropical Gulf Coast climate. However, it was named after prominent railroad developer Henry B. Wishnatzki Farms, the largest strawberry producer in Florida, has a presence in Plant City. Plant Citys original name was Ichepucksassa after the Indian village that occupied the territory. Its name caused so much confusion that the city was renamed Cork and it was finally given the name Plant City in commemoration of Henry B. Plant and his railroad, which boosted the commerce in this primarily agricultural community by incorporating it with the South Florida Railroad. The columnist John Keasler, who wrote 7,000 columns over 30 years for The Miami News, country singer Pam Tillis was born in Plant City. Plant City was the training home of baseballs Cincinnati Reds. Plant City is located at 28°1′N 82°8′W, according to the United States Census Bureau the city has a total area of 22.8 square miles, of which 22.6 square miles is land and 0.2 square miles, or 0. 53%, is water. The city and its area are in the Southern Flatwoods ecological community as defined by the US Department of Agriculture. The region as a whole is noted for its sandy, infertile, in and around Plant City, however, high organic matter content and scattered phosphate nodules make many of the soils more fertile than typical for the flatwoods. Plant City, as does most of Florida, has a subtropical climate with humid and hot summers and warm. Since the coolest month mean temperature is 61 °F, it misses the definition of a true tropical climate. The Hillsborough County School District operates all public schools in Plant City, clement Early Education Center As of the census of 2000, there were 29,915 people,10,849 households, and 7,843 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,321.9 people per square mile, there were 11,797 housing units at an average density of 521.3 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 71. 67% White,16. 16% African American,0. 37% Native American,0. 89% Asian,0. 04% Pacific Islander,9. 10% from other races, and 1. 77% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 17. 42% of the population,22. 9% of all households were made up of individuals and 9. 3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older

25.
Orlando, Florida
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Orlando is a city in the U. S. state of Florida and the county seat of Orange County. Located in Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 4,000,002, according to U. S. As of 2015, Orlando had an estimated population of 270,934, making it the 73rd-largest city in the United States, the fourth-largest city in Florida. The City of Orlando is nicknamed The City Beautiful, and its symbol is the fountain at Lake Eola, Orlando is also known as The Theme Park Capital of the World and in 2014 its tourist attractions and events drew more than 62 million visitors. The Orlando International Airport is the thirteenth-busiest airport in the United States, with the exception of Walt Disney World, most major attractions are located along International Drive. The city is one of the busiest American cities for conferences and conventions. Orlando is home to the University of Central Florida, which is the largest university campus in the United States in terms of enrollment as of 2015, in 2010, Orlando was listed as a Gamma− level of world-city in the World Cities Study Groups inventory. Orlando ranks as the fourth-most popular American city based on where people want to live according to a 2009 Pew Research Center study. Fort Gatlin, as the Orlando area was known, was established at what is now just south of the city limits by the 4th U. S. Artillery under the command of Ltc, alexander C. W. Fanning on November 9,1838 during the construction of a series of fortified encampments across Florida during the Second Seminole War. The fort and surrounding area were named for Dr. John S. Gatlin, king Phillip and Coacoochee frequented this area and the tree was alleged to be the place where the previous 1835 ambush that had killed over 100 soldiers had been planned. When the U. S. military abandoned the fort in 1839 the surrounding community was built up by settlers, prior to being known by its current name, Orlando was once known as Jernigan. Aarron Jernigan became Orange Countys first State Representative in 1845 but his pleas for military protection went unanswered. Fort Gatlin was briefly reoccupied by the military for a few weeks during October and November 1849, a historical marker indicates that by 1850 the Jernigan homestead served as the nucleus of a village named Jernigan. One of the countys first records, a grand jurys report, mentions a stockade where it states homesteaders were driven from their homes, Aaron Jernigan led a local volunteer militia during 1852. Jernigan appears on an 1855 map of Florida and by 1856 the area had become the county seat of Orange County and it is known for certain that the area was renamed Orlando in 1857. The move is believed to be sparked, in part, by Aaron Jernigans fall from grace after he was relieved of his command by military officials in 1856. His behavior was so notorious that Secretary of War Jefferson Davis wrote, in 1859, Jernigan and his sons were accused of committing a murder at the towns post office

26.
Bradenton, Florida
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Bradenton /ˈbreɪdəntən/ BRAY-den-ton is a city in Manatee County, Florida, United States. The U. S. Census Bureau estimated the citys 2016 population to be 54,437, Bradenton is a principal city of the Bradenton-Sarasota-Venice, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had a 2007 estimated population of 682,833. The area that would become Bradenton was explored in 1539 by the Spanish during the expedition led by Hernando De Soto. The original town of Bradentown was incorporated in 1903, the city took the name of Dr. Joseph Braden, whose nearby fort-like house was a refuge for early settlers during Seminole Indian attacks. Bradenton is located on US41 between Tampa and Sarasota, the area is surrounded by waterways, both fresh and saltwater. Along the Gulf of Mexico and into Tampa Bay are over 20 miles of Florida beaches, bordered on the north by the Manatee River, Bradenton is located on the mainland and is separated from the outer barrier islands of Anna Maria Island and Longboat Key by the Intracoastal Waterway. Downtown Bradenton is located in the northwest area of the city, home to many of Bradentons offices and government buildings, the tallest is the Bradenton Financial Center,12 stories high, with its blue-green windows. The next tallest is the brand new Manatee County Judicial Center with nine floors, other major downtown buildings include the Manatee County Government building and the headquarters of the School Board of Manatee County. The eastern side of Bradenton is growing at a rapid rate, starting as the popular subdivision Lakewood Ranch, it is now becoming a heavily populated part of town. Most of the communities are newer than in West Bradenton, as of the census of 2000, there were 49,504 people,21,379 households, and 12,720 families residing in the city. The population density was 4,088.5 inhabitants per square mile, there were 24,887 housing units at an average density of 2,055.4 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 78. 14% White,15. 11% African American,0. 79% Asian,0. 29% Native American,0. 05% Pacific Islander,3. 91% from other races, and 1. 71% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 11. 26% of the population,34. 1% of all households were made up of individuals and 17. 8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.24 and the family size was 2.85. In the city, the population was out with 21. 6% under the age of 18,7. 7% from 18 to 24,25. 3% from 25 to 44,19. 9% from 45 to 64. The median age was 42 years, for every 100 females there were 90.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.9 males, the median income for a household in the city was $34,902, and the median income for a family was $42,366. Males had an income of $28,262 versus $23,292 for females

27.
Punta Gorda, Florida
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Punta Gorda is a city in Charlotte County, Florida, United States. As of the 2010 census the city had a population of 16,641 and it is the county seat of Charlotte County and the only incorporated municipality in the county. Punta Gorda is the city of the Punta Gorda, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area and is also in the Sarasota-Bradenton-Punta Gorda Combined Statistical Area. Punta Gorda was the scene of destruction after Charley, a Category 4 hurricane. Charley was the strongest tropical system to hit Florida since Hurricane Andrew in 1992, in the immediate years following the storm, buildings were restored or built to hurricane-resistant building codes. The new buildings, restorations and amenities concurrently preserved the citys past while showcasing newer facilities, during this time, Laishley Park Municipal Marina was built and the Harborwalk, Linear Park and various trails were created throughout the city for bicycle and pedestrian traffic. The name Punta Gorda has been on maps at least since 1851, referring to a point of land that juts into Charlotte Harbor and it was in the late 1800s that early settlers began to arrive in what is the present-day Punta Gorda area. Frederick and Jarvis Howard, Union Army veterans, homesteaded an area south of the Peace River near present-day Punta Gorda about a decade after the close of the Civil War. In 1876, James and Josephine Lockhart bought land and built a house on property which is now at the center of the city, approximately two years later Lockhart sold his claim to James Madison Lanier, a hunter and trapper. Lanier with his wife lived there until 1883, when 30.8 acres were sold to Isaac Trabue, Punta Gorda became the southernmost stop on the Florida Southern Railroad, until an extension was built to Fort Myers in 1904, attracting the industries that propelled its initial growth. In 1887,12 years after the first settlers trekked to Charlotte Harbor,34 met at Hectors Billiard Parlor to discuss incorporation, once Punta Gorda was officially incorporated, mayoral elections took place and a council was formed. The first mayor, W. H. Simmons, was elected, the new city was renamed Punta Gorda. Phosphate was discovered on the banks of the Peace River just above Punta Gorda in 1888, phosphate mined in the Peace River Valley was barged down the Peace River to Punta Gorda and Port Boca Grande, where it was loaded onto vessels for worldwide shipment. In 1896, the Florida Times-Union reported that mining was Punta Gordas chief industry. But, by 1907, a railroad was built direct to Port Boca Grande and it underwent many changes in both ownership and name over time, and today is known as The Charlotte Sun Herald. Early Punta Gorda greatly resembled the social climate of various classes living together. While the regal Punta Gorda Hotel, at one point partly owned by Cornelius Vanderbilt, reflected the upper class, Punta Gorda was a pretty rough town, as most frontier towns were. Punta Gordas location at the end of the railway line spiked the crime rate and this included City Marshal John H. Bowman, who was shot and killed in his front parlor on January 29,1903, in view of his family

28.
Spartanburg, South Carolina
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Spartanburg is the largest city in and the county seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States, and the twelfth largest city by population in the state. Spartanburg has a population of 37,013 and an urban population of 180,786 as of the 2010 census. The Spartanburg Metropolitan Statistical Area, corresponding to Spartanburg County and Union County, had a population of 317,057 as of the 2010-2014 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Spartanburg is the second-largest city in the greater Greenville–Spartanburg–Anderson Combined Statistical Area which has a population of 1,385,045 as of 2014, Spartanburg was formed in 1785 and was named after a local militia called the Spartan Regiment in the American Revolutionary War. The Spartan Regiment, commanded by Andrew Pickens, participated in the nearby Battle of Cowpens, in 1831, Spartanburg was incorporated, later becoming known as the Hub City due to the railroad lines forming wheel hub shapes in the area. Around 40 textile mills were established in the late 1800s and early 1900s, during World War I Camp Wadsworth was used to train 100,000 soldiers for the war. Camp Croft also trained soldiers during World War II and is now called Croft State Park, by the 1950s, mills began to decline as wages and the automobile industry increased. BMW US Manufacturing Company, BMWs only North American manufacturing plant, was established in 1992. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 19.2 square miles, of which 19.1 square miles is land and 0.1 square miles. The city of Spartanburg has a subtropical climate with long, hot and humid summers. The average annual temperature is 61.6 °F, in the summer season from June through September, average highs are in the 80s to low 90s F, while in the winter months average highs are in the mid 50s F. Annual rainfall is fairly evenly throughout the whole year. Spartanburg sees very little snowfall, with the average being only 1.4 inches. Average precipitation is 51.3 inches and the growing season is 231 days. Lawson’s Fork Creek, a tributary of the Pacolet River, was known for its plentiful wildlife. Parks and woodlands line much of its banks, and rocky shoals and it stretches from the northern end of the county to the eastern end, where it empties into the Pacolet. The Cottonwood Trail is a trail located in the Edwin M. Griffin Nature Preserve that runs along part of Lawson’s Fork Creek. The trail includes picnic areas, a path over an extensive wetlands area

29.
Brewster, Florida
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Brewster is a ghost town in southwest Polk County, Florida, United States, ten miles south of Mulberry. It is at an elevation of 143 feet above sea level and has been uninhabited since the early 1960s, the population is 3, according to the 2010 Census. The village of Brewster was founded in 1910 and for decades flourished from phosphate mining and it was largely a company town for American Cyanamid. The town had its own schools, movie theater, medical clinic, post office, which was established in 1913 and discontinued in 1961, the inventor of the digital computer, John Vincent Atanasoff, though born in Hamilton, New York, grew up in Brewster. The village was closed down by the company in 1962. Much of Brewster was demolished at the time, but some abandoned buildings remain, the deed to Brewster was turned over to the state of Florida in partial payment of a judgment against American Cyanamid for environmental damages. Agrock yard Brewster Pages Brewster on GhostTowns. com

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Sanford, Florida
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Sanford is a city in the central region of the U. S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Seminole County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 53,570, known as the Historic Waterfront Gateway City, Sanford sits on the southern shore of Lake Monroe at the head of navigation on the St. Johns River. Native Americans first settled in the thousands of years before the city was formed. The Seminoles would arrive in the area in the 18th century, during the Second Seminole War in 1836, the United States Army established Camp Monroe and built a road that is currently known as Mellonville Avenue. The city sits approximately 20 miles northeast of Orlando, Sanford is home to Seminole State College of Florida and the Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens. Its downtown attracts tourists with shops, restaurants, a marina, the Orlando Sanford International Airport, which is in the heart of the town, functions as the secondary commercial airport for international and domestic carriers in the Orlando metropolitan area. The ten-foot wide paved walkway spans a distance of miles in Sanfords downtown area along the waterfront of Lake Monroe. Phase 2, which adds over 3000 feet to the trail, was completed in 2014, the city is redoing the face of Sanford Avenue, one of the main streets, with a new brick road, wider sidewalks, trees, flowers, and benches. Sanford is connected to the central Florida commuter railway SunRail, with the station 2 miles from the downtown, to support the its green initiatives, Sanford has added five electric car charging stations. The city is proposing to replace streetlamp bulbs with LED lights, the city of Sanford also launched a redesigned city government website in 2012. The Mayaca or Jororo Indians inhabited the shores of Lake Monroe at the time of European contact, by 1760, however, war and disease had decimated the tribe, which would be replaced by the Seminole Indians. Florida was acquired by the United States from Spain in 1821, in 1835, the Seminoles burned the port of Palatka on the St. Johns River, then the major artery into Central Florida from the East Coast. Consequently, a garrison was established upstream, on the southern side of Lake Monroe near a trading post. Called Camp Monroe, the log breastwork was attacked on February 8,1837 and it would be strengthened and renamed Fort Mellon in honor of Captain Charles Mellon, the sole American casualty. General Zachary Taylor had a road connecting a string of defenses from Lake Monroe to Fort Brooke. The town of Mellonville was founded around Fort Mellon in 1842 by Daniel Stewart, in 1845, Florida became a U. S. state, and Mellonville became county seat of Orange County, formerly called Mosquito County with its county seat across the lake at Enterprise. Orange groves were planted, with the first fruit packing plant built in 1869, in 1870, General Henry Shelton Sanford bought 12,548 acres to the west of Mellonville and laid out the community of Sanford. Believing it would become a hub, he called it The Gateway City to South Florida